Mobile phone users may be at increased risk of brain cancer and should use texting and hands-free devices to reduce exposure, the WHO’s cancer experts said on Tuesday.
Radio-frequency electromagnetic fields generated by such devices are “possibly carcinogenic to humans,” the International Agency for -Research on Cancer (IARC) announced at the end of an eight-day meeting in Lyon, France.
Experts “reached this classification based on review of the human evidence coming from epidemiological studies” pointing to an increased incidence of glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, said Jonathan Samet, president of the work group.
Two studies in particular, the largest conducted over the past decade, showed a higher risk “in those that had the most intensive use of such phones,” he said.
Some individuals tracked in the studies had used their phones for an average of 30 minutes per day over a period of 10 years.
“We simply don’t know what might happen as people use their phones over longer time periods, possibly over a lifetime,” Samet said in a telephone news conference.
The IARC cautioned that current evidence showed only a possible link, not a proven one, between wireless devices and cancers.
“There is some evidence of increased risk of glioma” and another form of non-malignant tumour called acoustic neuroma, said Kurt Straif, the scientist in charge of editing the IARC reports on potentially carcinogenic agents.
“But it is not at the moment clearly established that the use of mobile phones does in fact cause cancer in humans,” he said.
The IARC does not issue formal recommendations, but experts pointed to a number of ways consumers can reduce risk.
A year ago it concluded that there was no link between cellphones and brain cancer, but that report was criticized as based on out-of-date data. The new review, conducted by a panel of 31 scientists from 14 countries, was reached on the basis of a “full consensus,” said Robert Baan, in charge of the written report, which is yet to be released.
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